A 42-year-old woman on Monday was sentenced to time served - a night spent in jail - for pulling a federal immigration officer’s face mask off.
In April, Temika Gardner pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor assault, which occurred as she attempted to help free a man detained by immigration enforcement officers in East Portland last fall.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jolie A. Russo placed Gardner on federal supervision for six months.
Gardner, of Portland, filmed federal agents on her cellphone as they detained a man about 5:30 a.m. on Oct. 23. Federal agents stopped the man in his 2012 Volkswagen shortly after he emerged from an apartment complex in the 14300 block of East Burnside Street.
After they placed the man in the back of a federal car, Gardner opened a rear passenger door and allowed the man to escape, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Rykken. The suspect ran toward his apartment but was caught and tackled to the ground.
Gardner continued to use her cellphone to record the federal agents’ actions, placed her hands on officers and pulled off one officer’s face covering and threw it to the ground, according to a federal affidavit.
At her sentencing hearing, Gardner told the judge she had no idea who the men with the masks were and was afraid for the person they were placing in their van.
“In that moment in time, I was scared for this young man and his life,” she said. “I did not have any assurance as to the validity of these people and their identity.”
She continued, “I never intended any violence. My main concern was for my community. I felt scared for him. I’m sorry I acted in a way that violated the law. I regret all of that.”
Of about 40 people arrested since June 2025 on federal misdemeanors or felony allegations stemming from protests against ICE in Oregon, more than half entered guilty pleas. Most sentences have ranged from time served to one year of probation.
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